Systems and methods for delivering picture-in-picture signals at diverse compressions and bandwidths

ABSTRACT

T Systems and methods for providing picture-in-picture, or other multi-picture displays. Some of the systems include two or more video and/or data signals that are coupled to a transmission device. In addition, a selector signal is coupled to the transmission device. The transmission device also includes a video output that, based at least in part on the selector signal, provides a derivative of one of the video and/or data signals at a first compression and bandwidth, and the other video and/or data signal at a second compression and bandwidth. Various of the methods include utilize the systems to transmit two or more video outputs based at least in part on a selector signal.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/356,364 entitled “PACKET NETWORK INTERFACEDEVICE AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ITS USE,” filed Jan. 31, 2003 byBruce A. Phillips et al.; is a continuation-in-part application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/356,688 entitled “SYSTEMS, METHODS ANDAPPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PLURALITY OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES,”filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Bruce A. Phillips et al.; is acontinuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/356,338 entitled “CONFIGURABLE NETWORK INTERFACE DEVICE AND SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR ITS USE,” filed Jan. 31, 2003 by Bruce A. Phillips etal., is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/367,596 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DELIVERING A DATA STREAM TOA VIDEO APPLIANCE,” filed Feb. 14, 2003 by Steven M. Casey et al., is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/367,597entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING APPLICATION SERVICES,” filedFeb. 14, 2003 by Steven M. Casey et al., the entire disclosure of eachof which is herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.

This application is also related to each of the following commonlyassigned, copending applications, the entire disclosures of each ofwhich is herein incorporated by reference for all purposes: Title:“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MONITORING VISUAL INFORMATION,” U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/377,283; Title: “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORMINGPICTURE-IN-PICTURE SIGNALS,” U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/377,290; and Title: “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING AND DISPLAYINGPICTURE-IN-PICTURE SIGNALS,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,281Title: “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DISPLAYING DATA OVER VIDEO,” U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/377,282;. Each of the aforementioned are filedon a date even herewith.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to systems and methods forpreparing, transmitting, and displaying information as a video image.More particularly, the present invention provides systems and methodsfor displaying one video program over a portion of another videoprogram.

Currently there exist televisions capable of receiving a composite videosignal and decoding two or more channels included with the video signal.Multiple of the channels can be displayed simultaneously with onechannel superimposed over another. However, an end user is limited towatching one or more programs provided by a supplier of visualprogramming, such as a cable provider. Such visual suppliers offer onlya limited number of channels. Thus, an end user is limited in theselection of information that can be displayed at any given time.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for methods and systems toaddress these and other problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a variety of systems and methods usefulin relation preparing, transmitting, and receiving various mediatransmissions. In some cases, the media transmissions can include videopresentations, data presentations, or some combination thereof. Inparticular embodiments, the systems and methods provide for displaying avideo presentation superimposed over a portion of another videopresentation.

In one particular application of the systems and methods of the presentinvention, two video sources are selected. Information from both of thevideo sources are transmitted, with information from one of the videosources being displayed on the majority of a display, and the othervideo source being displayed over a portion of the display. Thus, forexample, an end user can select channel ten that includes localtelevision programming. In addition, the end user can select channeleight that includes a cable news channel. Channel ten is then displayedas a full screen image on the end user's television, with channel eightbeing superimposed over some portion of the end user's televisionscreen. In particular cases, the user can size the superimposed channelin relation to the other displayed channel. Thus, for example, the enduser can select an area of the television at which the superimposedchannel will be located.

Particular embodiments of the present invention provide systems forproviding picture-in-picture. The systems include a transmission devicethat includes a selector interface for receiving a selector signal, anda video interface for receiving two or more input video signals. Inaddition, the transmission device includes a video output that includestwo video output signals at differing compression and/or differingbandwidth requirements. The two video output signals are derived fromthe two video input signals, respectively. In some cases, the selectorsignal indicates that one of the video input signals is a full screensignal, while the other video signal is a partial screen signal.Further, the selector signal may also indicate the size of the partialscreen signal and/or the location of the partial screen signal relativeto the full screen signal.

In particular cases, the full screen signal is transmitted at a higherresolution and/or bandwidth relative to the partial screen video signal.Thus, in some cases, the systems further include a resolution converter.Such a resolution converter can reduce the number of lines and/or thepixel or column, of a transmitted image. Alternatively, or in addition,different compression algorithms and/or bit rates can be used. Forexample, one of the signals may be an MPEG-2 verses an MPEG-4 signal, ora high bit rate MPEG-2 signal verses a low bit rate MPEG-2 signal.Further, in some cases, the compression ratio and/or compression typecan be based at least in part on the indicated size of the partialscreen signal.

Other embodiments of the present invention provide methods forsupporting picture-in-picture. The methods include receiving a firstvideo signal, a second video signal, and a selector signal. The selectorsignal is decoded, and as such indicates that the first video signal isa main-screen video signal, and the second video signal is a sub-screenvideo signal. Based at least in part on the decoded selector signal, thefirst video signal is formatted as a high bit rate video signal, and thesecond video signal as a low bit rate video signal. The two formattedvideo signals are then transmitted over a transmission medium coupled toa NID. In some cases, formatting the second video signal as a low bitrate video signal includes reducing the resolution of the second videosignal by, for example, reducing the number of lines of displayed video.In various cases, formatting the first video signal as a high bit ratevideo signal includes converting the signal to high bit rate MPEG-2signal or a high bit rate MPEG-4 signal, while formatting the secondvideo signal as a low bit rate video signal includes converting to a lowbit rate MPEG-2 signal. In some cases, the selector signal furtherindicates a display size of the low bit rate video signal.

Yet other embodiments of the present invention provide methods fordisplaying picture-in-picture. The methods include receiving a high bitrate video signal and a low bit rate video signal. Both of the videosignals are combined such that the low bit rate video signal issuperimposed over the high bit rate video signal. The combined signal isprovided to a display device, such as a television.

This summary provides only a general outline of the embodimentsaccording to the present invention. Many other objects, features andadvantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent fromthe following detailed description, the appended claims and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the figures which aredescribed in remaining portions of the specification. In the figures,like reference numerals are used throughout several to refer to similarcomponents. In some instances, a sub-label consisting of a lower caseletter is associated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiplesimilar components. When reference is made to a reference numeralwithout specification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to referto all such multiple similar components.

FIGS. 1A–1G provide schematic illustrations of embodiments of theinvention that use demarcation and application devices to provide anetwork interface system;

FIGS. 2A–2C provide schematic illustrations of network interface systemsaccording to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 provides an illustration of the use of a network interface systemto provide a variety of telecommunications services to a customerpremises according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating methods of providingtelecommunication information according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 a and 5 b illustrate systems in accordance with the presentinvention for providing picture-in-picture using video signals, datasignals, or any combination thereof;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting methods in accordance with thepresent invention for providing picture-in-picture signaling;

FIG. 7 are conceptual diagrams depicting processes discussed in relationto FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates a system including various display devices along withmultiple sources that can be used in relation to various embodiments ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram for monitoring programs displayed on otherdisplay devices and/or video generators in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a system in accordance with various embodiments ofthe present invention for providing picture-in-picture signaling withoutan intervening NID.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and systemsuseful in relation to preparing, transmitting, and receiving variousmedia transmissions. In some cases, the media transmissions can includevideo presentations, data presentations, or some combination thereof. Inparticular embodiments, the systems and methods provide for displaying avideo presentation superimposed over a portion of another visualpresentation.

As one example, some embodiments provide picture-in-picture support todisplays that do not include such support. In one particular case, twovideo signals are combined such that a picture-in-picture video outputis created. The output is then formed into a PAL, NTSC, non-modulatedvideo signal, or other video output compatible with a television. Thus,the television is capable of displaying a picture-in-picture displaywithout the need for multiple tuners. As used herein, a display is anydevice that is capable of displaying a video image. For example, adisplay can be an analog television, a digital television, a computermonitor, or the like.

Other embodiments provide systems and methods for transmitting multiplevideo streams that can be later combined for display as apicture-in-picture. Some of these embodiments can provide fortransmitting one or both of the video streams in a reduced resolutionbandwidth where picture-in-picture is selected. Thus, where apicture-in-picture display is selected, two video streams can betransmitted, without doubling the bandwidth requirements.

Yet other embodiments provide for forming data as a picture within alarger picture. Thus, for example, a stock ticker available from anInternet site can be displayed over a video presentation. Such data caninclude static displays, or streaming displays. Thus, for example, acontinuous stream of sports scores may be displayed, or an Internet siteincluding a snapshot of the scores at a particular time can bedisplayed.

Further embodiments provide for monitoring activity associated with oneor more displays. For example, a display in a consumer's living room maybe used to watch a particular television channel, while a picture withinthat display is tuned to whatever video program or Internet sites thatare being accessed by another display within the residence.Alternatively, the other picture may be used to monitor a video camerathat is generating a display. Such embodiments provide an ability tomonitor ongoing activity in a residence, or even beyond a residence,while watching television or other video program.

B. Network Interface Devices

In some embodiments of the present invention, picture-in-pictureservices may be provided through the use of a network interface device(“NID”) that is capable of interfacing between a customer premises and atelecommunication service provider's network. Thus, various embodimentsof such NIDs are described. However, as further discussed below, variousembodiments of the present invention can function without the use of aNID. Rather, various embodiments of the present invention involve theuse of a set-top box associated with a given display, or providepicture-in-picture services without the use of an intervening device,such as a set-top box or a NID.

In some instances the functions of the NID are performed by elements ofa “demarcation device,” and specific examples of how the demarcationcapabilities arise in different embodiments of the network interfacesystems are discussed below. Merely by way of illustration, suchdemarcation capabilities may derive from elements comprised by thefollowing examples of demarcation devices: a set-top box, which may beused inter alia as an interface between a customer's video appliance anda provider's video network; broadband modems, including xDSL modems,cable modems, and wireless modems, each of which may be used to providevideo and/or data to a customer premises; integrated access devices,which may, for example, translate between Voice over IP (“VoIP”) signalsand traditional telephone signals, allowing traditional telephones toconnect to a VoIP network; devices compatible with the sessioninitiation protocol (“SIP”); and the like. One particular demarcationdevice whose elements may be used to provide demarcation capabilitiesincludes a network interface device (“ND”), described in detail below.In some instances, a demarcation device may additionally include othercapabilities, including, for example, the capability to separatereceived telecommunication information into discrete sets; thecapability to process certain of the separated sets independently fromother sets; and/or the capability to transmit different of the separatedsets to different locations, perhaps through the use of differentinterfaces.

In describing embodiments of the invention, references to “customerpremises” are intended to refer to physical structures under the controlof a customer through ownership, leasehold, or any other property right.The term is not intended to encompass open real property external to thephysical structures, even if such open real property is also under thecontrol of the customer. Such a definition reflects differences inaccessibility to the physical structures and surrounding open realproperty. Access to the physical structures generally requires thepresence of the customer or a representative of the customer, whileaccess to the surrounding open real property may be obtained bypermission from customer, through an easement, or by other means thatdoes not require the physical presence of the customer. Thus, forexample, in the case of a residential customer, the customer premisesmay correspond to the customer's home, but does not include the yardsurrounding the home. Access to the yard may be obtained even when thecustomer is not home, such as when the customer is at work, is shopping,or is otherwise unavailable to be physically present.

As used herein, the term “telecommunication information” is broadlydefined to include any information that can be transmitted or carried bya telecommunication service provider's network (e.g., the PublicSwitched Telephone Network or “PSTN”) or by any other telecommunicationnetwork, including but not limited to the Internet. Such informationincludes, for example, voice signals (e.g., Plain Old Telephone Serviceor “POTS,” as the term is known to those skilled in the art), audio andvideo signals (encoded in any standard and/or proprietary, digitaland/or analog format now known or hereafter developed, using any of avariety of means known to those skilled in the art, such as HDTV, NTSCand PAL formatting, as well as, for example any of the MPEG digitalencoding and/or compression algorithms), and data. Such data can beformatted according any of a variety of protocols familiar in the art,including in particular the Internet Protocol.

In this application, the term “telecommunication service provider”refers to any entity that provides telecommunication service to acustomer's premises, including, merely by way of example, incumbentlocal exchange carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, cabletelevision carriers, and satellite providers, to name a few. Incontrast, the term “telecommunication information provider,” means anyentity that is capable of serving as a source of telecommunicationinformation. In many cases, a particular entity may be considered both atelecommunication service provider and a telecommunication informationprovider, for instance, when a local exchange carrier provides Internetservice to a customer, as well as the external transport medium attachedto that customer's premises. In other cases, the two may be separateentities. For instance, according to certain embodiments of theinvention, a cable television provider could contract with a localexchange carrier to provide broadcast television signals to a customerpremises using the local exchange carrier's network and/or an externaltransport medium operated by the local exchange carrier.

The term “telecommunication information set” is intended to describe adiscrete subset of the telecommunication information transmitted acrossa particular transport medium and/or received by a device havingdemarcation capabilities. Generally, the telecommunication informationthat is classified part of a particular information set shares a commoncharacteristic. Merely by way of example, an information set cancomprise telecommunication information of a particular type, such asvoice, IP data, encoded video, and such; information associated with aparticular application, such as information assigned to a specific IPport, as is known in the art; information addressed to or received froma particular device or network segment; information received within aparticular reception window; and the like.

In certain embodiments, demarcation capabilities can support the one-wayflow of telecommunication information, such as exemplified by the caseof a simple set top box, which can receive data representing a videosignal, decode that data, and transmit a video signal to an attachedtelevision. In other embodiments, demarcation capabilities can supportbidirectional flow of telecommunication information. One such example isan xDSL modem, which allows the transmission of data both to and from acustomer premises. In still other embodiments, the demarcationcapability can support both unidirectional and bidirectional informationflows simultaneously, depending on the type of telecommunicationinformation transmitted or the source of the information.

The demarcation capabilities may also function to isolate thetelecommunication service provider's network from the network at thecustomer premises. As described in detail below, the service provider'snetwork is one example of an “external transport medium” and thecustomer's network is one example of an “internal transport medium.” Theexternal transport medium and internal transport medium are eachexamples of a “transport medium,” which is used herein to describe anycable, wire, or other medium capable of carrying telecommunicationinformation, including, but not limited to, twisted pair copper wiring(shielded or unshielded, including, for example, unshielded cablescomplying with industry-standard categories 3, 5, 5e and 6), opticalfiber, and coaxial cable. Other examples of transport media includeuniversal serial bus (“USB”) cable, cable complying with the Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (“IEEE”) 1394 standard, as wellas any medium capable of complying with the many local-area networkingstandards known in the art. The preceding are examples of transportmedia that comprise physical media, but the invention is not limited tothe use of physical media. In other embodiments, a transport medium maycomprise any of a wide variety of wireless transmissions, includinginfra-red transmissions, radio frequency (“RF”) transmissions, andtransmissions complying with standards developed by any of the IEEE'sworking groups governing wireless communication (e.g., the 802.11,802.15, 802.16 and 802.20 working groups), as well as point-to-pointmicrowave, satellite, cellular/PCS, and/or ultra wideband transmissions,among others.

In certain embodiments, demarcation capabilities can define an activedemarcation point, serving to isolate the external transport medium fromthe internal transport medium (perhaps via an isolation device,discussed below), such that operational changes in one network do notaffect the other network. “Operational changes” can include any changesin the structure, topology, format, protocol, bandwidth, media, and/orother operational parameters of a network. This isolation feature canprovide many benefits; for instance, the demarcation capability can berealized by a disclosed interface between a customer premises and aprovider's network, allowing the provider to implement changes in itsnetwork without disrupting the service provided to the customer.

Likewise, the isolation of the internal transport medium from theexternal transport medium can allow for any variety of customer premisesequipment (“CPE”) to be used at the customer premises without fear thatthe equipment might be incompatible with a particular telecommunicationservice provider's standards. “Customer premises equipment” and “CPE”are intended to refer to any device that sends, receives, or otherwiseutilizes telecommunication information. Moreover, the demarcationcapabilities might serve to couple a plurality of external and/orinternal transport media, allowing interoperation among them all, and toprovide the same isolation features among all of these media.

In this way, certain aspects of the demarcation capabilities can allowfor sales of a wide variety of CPE on a consumer electronics model,instead of the proprietary model necessitated by many of today'stelecommunication networks, where, for example, differingimplementations of xDSL among providers virtually force consumers topurchase modems from the providers to ensure compatibility between themodem and the provider's xDSL implementation. By isolating thetopologies of the external and internal transport media, embodiments ofthe present invention can create a disclosed interface between theprovider's network and the customer's network, allowing much greaterflexibility in both the provider's networking options and the customer'schoice of telecommunication appliances. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that these and many other benefits result from embodiments ofthe invention.

In accordance with other embodiments, the isolation abilities also allowinsulation between different transport media coupled to the internal andexternal transport media in order. This may permit, for example,preventing unwanted telecommunication information of one network fromentering the other network. For instance, a demarcation capability of anetwork interface system in accordance with particular embodiments canserve to prevent propagation of certain telecommunication informationfrom an internal network (including particular signals or frequencies)into one or more external transport media, preventing interference inthe internal transport medium from interfering with thetelecommunication service provider's network. In similar fashion,demarcation capabilities can prevent the contamination of the internaltransport medium with unwanted information from the external medium,interference between two or more external transport media coupled, andunwanted interference or crosstalk between multiple internal media.

In some embodiments, the isolation of the internal transport medium fromthe external transport medium resulting from the demarcationcapabilities also allows enhanced security to be provided for thecustomer and/or to control customer access to certain features orservices. For instance, those skilled in the art will recognize thatdemarcation capabilities can prevent unauthorized access to thecustomer's data network, such as by a telecommunication service providerand/or a third party, or can screen or filter telecommunicationinformation entering or leaving the customer's premises. This enablesfeatures such as parental controls to be placed on incoming and outgoinginformation, as well as filtering of outgoing sensitive information,such as credit card information and the like.

Further, according to certain embodiments, the demarcation capabilitiesmay be used to define a consolidation point for all telecommunicationinformation entering or leaving the customer premises. Definition ofsuch a consolidation point permits a variety of enhanced features to beprovided to the entire premises, including features such as calleridentification, premises-wide telephone, video and data distribution,content on demand, including video, audio, and/or data on demand, andthe like. These and other features resulting from demarcationcapabilities also allow for a variety of new and usefultelecommunication applications to be provided to customers. Specificdetails of some exemplary applications are discussed below; given thedisclosure herein, those skilled in the art can appreciate the widevariety of such applications that are possible using various embodimentsof the invention.

In a number of embodiments, the demarcation capability is appliedspecifically to a customer premises, thereby separating a transportmedium internal to the customer premises from a transport mediumexternal to the customer premises. Moreover, the demarcation isexploited to provide one or more addressable application devices in aconfiguration that permits services to be provided by the applicationdevices to the entire premises. For example, the addressable applicationdevices may be disposed external to the customer premises, as may be oneor more processors. The addressable application devices may be adaptedto interface with the transport medium internal to the customerpremises, and the processors may be adapted to selectively processtelecommunication information originating from the transport mediumexternal to the customer premises. Applications may be implementedthrough transmission of the processed telecommunication information fromthe processors to the addressable application devices. Not only doessuch a configuration permit applications to service the entire premises,disposing the addressable application devices external to the customerpremises makes them easily accessible by technicians as need for serviceor to change their operational states.

There are numerous organizational configurations that may be used inaccordance with embodiments of the invention. Several examples are shownschematically in FIGS. 1A–1G, although such examples are not intended tobe exhaustive. A relatively simple arrangement is shown in FIG. 1A,which illustrates a configuration 100 for providing telecommunicationservices. The configuration 100 includes a distribution point 104 incommunication with a device 108 having demarcation capabilities via anexternal transport medium 112. In this example, the external transportmedium 112 comprises a transport medium external to a customer premises116. The device 108 is shown in FIG. 1A as including an applicationdevice 109, which is adapted to interface with an internal transportmedium 124. In this example, the internal transport medium 124 comprisesa transport medium internal to the customer premises 116. While theapplication device 109 is shown as part of the demarcation device 108,this is not a requirement. In other instances, the application device109 may be distinct from, but coupled with, the demarcation device 108,such as by using a modular design with plug-and-play technology. Otherexamples discussed below illustrate different ways in which thedemarcation and application devices 108 and 109 may be configured asintegrated or separate devices. For convenience, however, thecombination of the demarcation 108 device and application device 109 issometimes referred to in a particular embodiment as an “applicationnetwork interface device” (“AND”) 107 irrespective of whether they areintegrated or separate.

In one sense, the distribution point 104 may be considered to be asource of telecommunication information transmitted to the customerpremises and a recipient of telecommunication information transmittedfrom the customer premises; as described below, however, thedistribution point 104 need not be either the ultimate source nor theultimate recipient of telecommunication information In certainembodiments, the distribution point 104 may correspond to atelecommunication service provider's local office. In other embodiments,the distribution point may correspond to another network element in theservice provider's network, such as a remote termination cabinet and/ora digital subscriber line access multiplier (“DSLAM”). More generally,the distribution point 104 may correspond to any facility operated by atelecommunication service provider that is capable of transmittingtelecommunication information to, and/or receiving telecommunicationinformation from, a customer premises 116.

In general, distribution points can be classified, inter alia, asdiscrete distribution points or complex distribution points. Withrespect to a particular information set, a discrete distribution pointoften transmits only the necessary or desired information to the ANID107. In contrast, a complex distribution point can transmit the entireinformation set to the ANID 107. The contrast may be illustrated withregard to video distribution: A discrete distribution point may performchannel switching (at the request of the demarcation device 108),encoding and sending only the desired channel information to thedemarcation device 108. In contrast, a complex distribution point mightrely upon the demarcation device 108 to perform all channel switching.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that each scheme presentsrelative advantages and disadvantages.

Distribution point 104 can be capable of transmitting and/or receivingany type of telecommunication information to/from the ANID 107, and suchtelecommunication information can be organized into a plurality oftelecommunication information sets, as necessary. For ease ofdescription, FIG. 1A does not show any additional sources or recipientsof telecommunication information in communication with distributionpoint 104, but, those skilled in the art will recognize that, in manyembodiments, distribution point 104 can be coupled to multiple customerpremises 116 (perhaps via an ANID 107 at each customer premises) andoften is neither the ultimate source nor the ultimate recipient oftelecommunication information. Instead, distribution point 104 usuallyserves as an intermediary between one or more customer premises 116 andone or more larger telecommunication networks and/or telecommunicationinformation providers, which, as discussed above, can include cabletelevision networks, telephone networks, data networks, and the like.Further, many such networks (as well as, in some embodiments,distribution point 104) can be coupled to the Internet, so thatdistribution point 104 can serve as a gateway between customer premises116 and any source and/or recipient of telecommunication informationthat has a connection to the Internet. The interconnection oftelecommunication networks is well known in the art, although it isspecifically noted that distribution point 104 can be configured totransmit telecommunication information to (and receive telecommunicationinformation from) virtually any source or recipient of telecommunicationinformation, through either direct or indirect (e.g., through theInternet) communication. Merely by way of example, a distribution point104 can transmit video signals received from a television programmingprovider to customer premises equipment, as described in theapplications referenced above. In other embodiments, distribution point104 can be in communication with one or more other customer locations,allowing for private virtual circuits between customer premises 116 andthose locations.

In configuration 100, the ANID 107 can serve as the interface betweenexternal transport medium 112 and customer premises 116. As shown inFIG. 1A, usually both the demarcation device 108 and the 109 comprisedby the AND 107 are interfaced with the internal transport medium 124,with the demarcation device interfaced with the external transportmedium 112, although other interfacing configurations are also withinthe scope of the invention. For example, the application device 109 mayadditionally be interfaced with the external transport medium 112. Theapplication device may also include a service interface 111 foraddressing the application device 109. The service interface 111 maycomprise a physical interface, such as a universal serial bus (“USB”),FireWire, registered jack 11 (“RJ-11”), registered jack 13 (“RJ-13”),registered-jack 45 (“RJ45”), serial, coax, or other physical interfaceknown to those of skill in the art. In other embodiments, the serviceinterface 111 may comprise a logical interface, such as may be providedthrough a logical connection with an IP address.

As conceptually illustrated in FIG. 1A, demarcation device 108 and/orapplication device 109 may be attached to an external wall of thecustomer premises 116. Such attachment may be performed of an integratedANID 107 or may be performed with the components separately of aseparated ANID 107. Such a configuration provides many advantages. Forinstance, if the telecommunication service provider desires to upgradeor otherwise change its network, including, perhaps, external transportmedium 112, a technician can perform any necessary changes atdemarcation device 108 and/or application device 109 as appropriatewithout entering the customer premises. Coupled with the ability of somedemarcation devices 108 to isolate the telecommunication serviceprovider's network from the customer's premises, this can allow thetelecommunication service provider to effect substantial changes in itnetwork without impacting or inconveniencing the customer in anyrespect. This could, for example, allow the telecommunication serviceprovider to upgrade external transmission medium 112 from a coppertwisted pair to optical fiber, without requiring any topological changesinside the customer premises 116. Of course, demarcation device 108and/or application device 109 may be located at a variety of alternativelocations, either within customer premises 116 or at a facility operatedby the telecommunication service provider. In addition, as previouslynoted and as discussed in further detail below, an ANID 107 may also bedivided, with different portions situated at different locations,according to the requirements of the implementation.

The application device 109 is configured so that it may communicate withCPE 120, which may be located interior to the customer premises throughinternal transport medium 124. Such communication is used to implementapplications defined by the application device 109 with the CPE 120 inaccordance with telecommunication information received from thedistribution point 104. In addition, the demarcation device 108 maycommunicate directly with CPE 120 to implement other functions. Whilethe internal transport medium 124 may comprise any of the mediadiscussed above, in one embodiment it comprises existing telephonewiring in customer premises 116 and, in some embodiments, is capable ofcarrying voice, data and video information. For instance, as describedin Edward H. Frank and Jack Holloway, “Connecting the Home with a PhoneLine Network Chip Set,” IEEE Micro (IEEE, March-April 2000), which isincorporated herein by reference, the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance(“HPNA”) standards allow for simultaneous transmission of both voiceinformation and Ethernet frames across twisted-pair copper telephonewiring. In addition to the transmission of telecommunication informationthrough the ANID 107, either directly from the demarcation device 108 orthrough the application device 109, telecommunication information may betransmitted via the reverse path to the distribution point 104. Suchtelecommunication information received at the distribution point 104 maybe transmitted to an information recipient, such as a service provider.For example, such a transmission may be used to request a pay-per-viewmovie or the like. Alternatively, telecommunication information receivedat the distribution point 104 may be transmitted across the Internet,such as may be used in the case of sending an email message.

In certain embodiments, the ANID 107 can receive state information froma control point 128, which is shown in the illustrated embodiment asassociated with distribution point 104. In certain instances, controlpoint 128 can be software and/or hardware operated by atelecommunication service provider for controlling certain features ofthe operation of the ANID 107. For instance, control point 128 caninstruct the ANID 107 to provide (or cease to provide) particularapplications and/or telecommunication services with the applicationdevice 109 to the customer premises 116. Control point 128 can alsoprovide other directions to the ANID 107 through the demarcation device108, including, for instance, instructions to save or record aparticular information set (e.g., data representing a movie), such thatthe information set may quickly (and, in some cases), repeatedly betransmitted to customer premises 116, allowing the provision of voice,data, video, etc. on demand.

Often, it may be beneficial to allow the customer to provide stateinformation to the ANID 107. Thus, in certain embodiments, control point128 may have a web interface, such that the customer or any authorizedperson, such as an employee of the telecommunication service provider ortelecommunication information provider, may log onto the web interfaceand configure options for the ANID 107, perhaps resulting in statecommands being transmitted from the distribution point 104 to the AND107. In other embodiments, control point 128 can be a web interface tothe ANID 107 itself, allowing the customer or other authorized person toconfigure the ANID 107 directly. In still other embodiments, controlpoint 128 can communicate with the ANID 107 through an applicationprogramming interface (“API”). Hence, in some embodiments, control point128 can interface with the ANID 107 through an API.

In many such embodiments, the API corresponds to the service interface111 of the application device. In embodiments where the serviceinterface 111 comprises a logical interface, the API can include a setof software, hardware, or firmware routines or libraries that may beinvoked programmatically to configure or relay information to theapplication device 109. In that sense, then, control point 128 can beunderstood to be a program running on a computer, perhaps located atdistribution point 104 or customer premises 116, among other locations,that provides state information to the application device 109 via asoftware API.

In other embodiments where the service interface 111 comprises aphysical interface such as those described above, the API may beaccessed locally, such as by a service technician. For example, theservice technician could visit property outside the customer premises116, attach a laptop computer or other device to the physical serviceinterface 111, and upload information to the application device 109,including perhaps both state information, as well as othertelecommunication information. In still other embodiments, theapplication device 109 can accept state information through other means,including, for example, through a web interface by receiving a speciallyformatted electronic message. This is especially the case in embodimentswhere the application device 109 is capable of acting as a web server,as discussed below.

The addressability of the application device 109 may be used in variousembodiments to change the state of the application device 109. Suchstate information can include any set of data or other information thatmay be interpreted by the application device 109 as defining operationalinstructions. This includes, for example, commands to process certaininformation sets in certain ways, e.g., to provide protocol conversion,to allow transmission of the information set, to deny transmission ofthe information set, to direct transmission on a particular interface,and the like, as well as commands to provide or cease providing aparticular service, such as to provide access to a pay-per-view movie oran additional telephone line. Thus, in certain aspects, atelecommunication service provider can control the application servicesprovided to a customer in several ways. First, the provider can onlytransmit a telecommunication information set to an AND 107 if the userof that device is authorized to receive the application serviceassociated with that information set. Alternatively, the serviceprovider could send one or more application services to a customer's AND107, and rely on the state of the component application device 109 toprevent unauthorized access to those services.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that certain control methodsare more well-suited to certain services than to others. For instance,with respect to cable television services, the same set of informationmay be broadcast to many households, and the ANID 107 is well-suited tocontrol access to those services, allowing for greater efficiency in theproviding of such services. In contrast, video on demand services mayinstead be controlled at a distribution point 104 or elsewhere such thata particular ANID 107 only receives video-on-demand information if thecustomer already has requested and been authorized to receive thatservice. In such cases, the ANID 107 may not need to provide accesscontrol functions with respect to that service.

According to some embodiments, the ANID 107 can implement either ofthese access control schemes, or both in combination, as well as others.Moreover, the ANID 107 can, in some cases, be configured to support aplurality of schemes transparently. For instance, the customer couldrequest a service from the ANID 107, perhaps using one of the methodsdiscussed above, and the ANID 107 could relay that request to theappropriate telecommunication service provider and/or telecommunicationinformation provider, as well as reconfigure itself to allow access tothat service, if necessary. Of course, the ANID 107 can also beconfigured to take any necessary validating or authenticating action,such as notifying the distribution point 104 and/or control point 128that the service has been requested, and, optionally, receiving a returnconfirmation that the service has been authorized.

In accordance with other embodiments, state information sent to the ANID107 can include one or more commands to interface with a particular CPEin a certain way. For instance, state information could instruct theANID 107 to turn on and/or off certain lights or equipment, perhaps viaadditional equipment, or to arm, disarm or otherwise monitor and/orconfigure a home security system. State information can also includeoperational data such as an IP address, routing information, and thelike, to name but a few examples.

State information can further include instructions to modify one or moresecurity settings of the ANID 107. Merely by way of example, in certainembodiments, the ANID 107 can include a computer virus scanner, andstate information can include updated virus definitions and/orheuristics. Likewise, the ANID 107 often will be configured with accesscontrols, such as to prevent unauthorized access through the ANID 107 bythird parties. State information can include instructions on how to dealwith particular third-party attempts to access the ANID 107 or internaltransport medium 124. Those skilled in the art will recognize as wellthat some security settings may specify the level of access the customerhas to the functions of the ANID 107, such as to prevent unauthorizeduse of certain telecommunication services, and that these settings alsomay be modified by received state information.

There are a variety of ways in which the various access-control andsecurity functionalities of the AND 107 discussed above may beimplemented. In different embodiments, these functionalities may beperformed by the demarcation device 108, by the application device 109,by a combination of the demarcation and application devices 108 and 109,and/or by still other components that may additionally be comprised bythe ANID 107. Moreover, the state information that manages suchfunctionalities may sometimes be sent periodically to the ANID 107 toensure that it is current. Those skilled in the art will also recognizethat state information can be considered a subset of the broadercategory of telecommunication information.

Turning now to FIG. 1B, configuration 100′ is illustrative of certainembodiments that can provide multiple ANIDs 107 at customer premises116. A first ANID 107A comprises demarcation device 108A and applicationdevice 109A, and a second AND 107B comprises demarcation device 108B andapplication device 109B. In this illustration, the application devices109 are shown as separated from the demarcation devices 108, althoughone or more of the multiple ANIDs 107 may alternatively comprisestructures in which they are integrated. In instances where the ANIDs107 have separated demarcation- and application-device components, theseparate components may both be affixed to an exterior wall of thecustomer premises 116. This has the same advantages discussed previouslyin connection with integrated ANIDs, namely ease of upgrading orotherwise changing the network by a telecommunication service provider.In other instances, the separate components may be provided in differentlocations, such as by providing the demarcation device 108 at a facilityoperated by the telecommunication service provider while keeping theapplication device 109 on the exterior wall of the customer premises116.

Similar to the configuration of FIG. 1A, appliance device 109A may be incommunication with CPE 120A through internal transport medium 124A andappliance device 109B may be in communication with CPE 120B throughinternal transport medium 124B. Implementation of the applicationsprovided by application devices 109A and 109B can thus be achievedrespectively with telecommunication information received and transmittedby demarcation devices 108A and 108B. In addition, demarcation device108A can be in direct communication with CPE 120A through internaltransport medium 124A, and demarcation device 108B can likewise be indirect communication with CPE 120B through internal transport medium124B. Each of the ANIDs 107 may be provided in communication with acommon distribution point 104 through their respective demarcationdevices 108. In particular, demarcation device 108B can communicate withdistribution point 104 through external transport medium 112B which, asillustrated by FIG. 1B, can simply be spliced into external transportmedium 112A, such as by using an active or passive splitting device,which could be optical, as in a fiber environment, or electrical. Ifdesired, demarcation devices 108 and/or distribution point 104 caninclude control logic to prevent unauthorized access by demarcationdevice 108A to telecommunication information sent to or received fromdemarcation device 108B, and vice versa. In other embodiments, externaltransport medium 112B could run directly from demarcation device 108B todistribution point 104. In still other embodiments, external transportmedium 112B could be omitted, with demarcation device 108B coupled todemarcation device 108A, which could then provide connectivity betweendemarcation device 108B and distribution point 104 through externaltransport medium 112A.

Configuration 100′ can be used in a variety of implementations. Forinstance, if customer premises 116 is a multiple-dwelling unit (“MDU”),separate ANIDs 107 can be provided for each separate resident or family.Alternatively, a single demarcation device, perhaps with moreinterfaces, can service multiple dwelling or business units. In suchimplementations, especially when external transport medium 112B does notdirectly couple demarcation device 108B to distribution point 104,demarcation devices 108A, 108B can include security functionality, forexample to prevent telecommunication signals intended for CPE 120A fromreaching CPE 120B and vice versa. In some embodiments, demarcationdevices 108 can provide a variety of such security, encryption, andauthentication functions.

The description above provides a specific example of a more generalclass of embodiments in which multiple ANIDs 107 are daisy-chainedtogether, using any of the telecommunication media discussed herein.This allows a telecommunication service provider to provide service toadditional customers without requiring any additional external transportmedia. Similarly, ANIDs 107 at multiple premises can be coupledtogether, such that if the external transport medium coupled to one ofthe ANIDs 107 fails, that device can maintain connectivity to thedistribution point through its connection to another ANID 107. An ANID107 in accordance with specific embodiments thus may have an interfacefor securely connecting to one or more additional ANIDs 107, and thusforming a mesh network of ANIDs and/or distribution points. This allowsa particular ANID 107 to serve as a conduit between another interfacedevice and a distribution point without allowing any unauthorizedreception of telecommunication information intended for the connectedinterface device. This secure interface can be included, for instance,in a portion of the ANID 107 that is inaccessible to customers, asillustrated in FIG. 2A and described below.

In other embodiments, a single customer premises 116 might haveconnections to a plurality of telecommunication service providers. Forexample, turning now to FIG. 1C, configuration 100″ includes adistribution point 104A coupled to a first ANID 107A via externaltransport medium 112A and also includes a second distribution point 104Bcoupled to a second ANID 107B via external transport medium 112B. Merelyby way of example, distribution point 104B could, for example, beassociated with a cable television provider, while distribution point104A could be associated with a telephone company. In addition,configuration 100″ illustrates that multiple CPE 120A and 120C may becoupled with a single ANID 107A. This may be done with multiple internaltransport media 124A and 124C as illustrated by FIG. 1C, or mayalternatively be done through a common internal transport medium asdiscussed below. Thus, for example, CPE 120A could be a telephone, CPE120C could be a fax machine, and CPE 120B could be a television.

FIG. 1C further provides an example of combinations of differentconfigurations for the ANIDs 107. In particular, the second ANID 107B,connected with distribution point 104B, is shown having an integrateddemarcation device 108B and application device 109B, with serviceinterface 111B. The first ANID 107A, connected with distribution point104A, is instead shown having separated demarcation and applicationdevices. Moreover, the first ANID 107A illustrates an AND that may havea plurality of application devices 109A and 109C in communication with asingle demarcation device 108A. Each of these application devices 109Amay have a respective service interface 111A and 111C, and may beconnected with different internal transport media 124A or 124C toreflect the different application capabilities. Thus, for example,application device 109A could provide an application intended fortelephone functions, such as caller identification or call waiting, andapplication device 109C could provide an application intended for faxfunctions, such as a storage and retrieval facility. The applicationdevice 109B comprised by the second ANID 107B could provide anapplication intended for cable-TV functions, such as a digital recorderfunction.

In another alternative embodiment, such as configuration 100′″illustrated in FIG. 1D, an ANID 107 can provide connectivity to aplurality of distribution points 104A and 104B, as well to a pluralityof CPE 120A, 120B, and 120C. In the illustrated configuration 100′″, theANID 107 is provided in a separated form with three application devices.Two of the application devices 109A and 109B are provided external tothe customer premises 116 and have service interfaces 111A and 111B. Thethird application interface 109C is provide interior to the customerpremises, illustrating that it is not a requirement that all of theapplication devices 109 comprised by the ANID 107 be disposed externalto the customer premises. The connectivity of a single ANID 107 to aplurality of distribution points 104A and 104B and to a plurality of CPE120A, 120B, and 120C may be effected through attachments for multipleinternal transport media 124A, 124B, and 124C and for multiple externaltransport media 112A and 112B. Moreover, as illustrated by FIG. 1D, eachdistribution point 104A and 104B may be associated with a differentcontrol point 128A and 128B, respectively. In alternative embodiments, asingle control point 128 could provide configuration information to theANID 107 with respect to both distribution points 104A and 104B.

Turning now to FIG. 1E, another exemplary configuration 100″″ ispresented in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention. Inexemplary system 100″″, the ANID 107 is shown having a configurationsimilar to that of FIG. 1D, with a structure in which the demarcation-and application-device components are separated, including one of theapplication devices 109C in the interior of the customer premises 116.Instead of communication of the AND 107 with a plurality of controlpoints 128 being effected through a plurality of distribution points104, FIG. 1E shows an embodiment in which such communication is achievedwith a common distribution point 104. This distribution point 104, whichmay be operated by a telecommunication service provider, can be incommunication with one or more telecommunication information providers130A and 130B. Each telecommunication information provider 130A and 130Bcan be the source or recipient of one or more telecommunicationinformation sets, each of which may be associated with a particulartelecommunication service. Each of the telecommunication informationsets may thus be transmitted to, or received from, the distributionpoint 104. Distribution point 104 can also transmit these informationsets to, or received them from, the ANID 107 through demarcation device108, via external transport medium 112. Such an configuration 100″″ thusexploits a capability of the ANID 107 to process a plurality of suchinformation sets in a variety of ways, as discussed below.

In certain embodiments, each telecommunication information provider 130Aor 130B may have an individual control point 128B or 128C. In some suchembodiments, control points 128B and 128C can be in communication withthe ANID 107 via distribution point 104 or, alternatively, could have aseparate means of communication with the ANID 107, such as via a modemand telephone line. Thus, in some embodiments, the ANID 107 can receivestate information from each control point 128B, and 128C through thedemarcation device 108. As discussed above, state information can directthe behavior of the demarcation device 108 and/or application devices109 comprised by the ANID 107, in particular with respect to how tohandle telecommunication information to implement various applicationson the CPE 120A, 120B, and/or 120C. Such state information may bereceived by the ANID 107 over the external transport medium 112 orthrough the service interfaces 111A and 111B of the application devices109A and 109B. In some embodiments, the ANID 107 can be configured toaccept state information related only to the telecommunicationinformation and/or services provided by the telecommunicationinformation provider sending the state information. In this way, theANID 107 can be protected against inadvertent or maliciousmisconfiguration, which could interrupt a telecommunication serviceprovided by another telecommunication information provider. Likewise,the ANID 107 could be configured to automatically request updated stateinformation from control point 128A associated with distribution point104 in the case of misconfiguration, and control point 128A couldmaintain a master set of configuration information to be able toaccommodate such a request.

In other embodiments, telecommunication information providers 130A and130B may not have an associated control point. In such embodiments,telecommunication information providers 130A and 130B can send stateinformation to control point 128A, perhaps via distribution point 104A,and control point 128A can relay that state information to thedemarcation device 108 (again, perhaps through distribution point 104).In this way the telecommunication service provider can control whichstate information is transmitted to the ANID 107.

In certain embodiments, the demarcation device 108 can submit a requestfor state information to one or more control points 128A, 128B, and/or128C, perhaps via distribution point 104. Such a request might be madeif, for instance, the customer would like to watch a pay-per-view movie.The appropriate control point, e.g., 128B, could then provide the properstate information to the ANID 107 as described above, allowingtransmission of the movie to customer premises 116.

As exemplified by configuration 132 in FIG. 1F, embodiments of theinvention enable a single AND 107 to serve multiple CPE 134A–F, each ofwhich can comprise a different appliance, at a single customer premises136. For instance, CPE 134A can be a computer with an Ethernetinterface, CPE 134B can be a telephone, CPE 134C can be a video gamesystem, CPE 134D can be a set-top box attached to a television, CPE 134Ecan be a computer with an HPNA interface, and CPE 134F can be a laptopcomputer equipped with a wireless network card.

Also as illustrated by configuration 132, the single ANID 107 cansupport multiple network topologies. For instance, the AND 107 can serveas a hub for a point-to-point network topology, with multiplepoint-to-point connections to CPE 134A and 134B via internal transportmedia 138A and 138B, respectively. In addition, the ANID 107 can supporta bus topology, as illustrated by internal transport medium 140, whichcan connect the ANID 107 to CPE 134C, 134D and 134E. The ANID 107 canalso be equipped with a wireless transmitter 142 for communication withwireless-capable CPE 134F. In this way, the ANID 107 can support a widevariety of networking media in customer premises 136, including theexisting telephone, satellite, cable, and network wiring. For instance,the existing telephone wiring in most homes is arranged in a bustopology, as is most coaxial cable (for instance RG6 or RG59) installedby cable television providers, although each may, in someimplementations, be wired using a star topology. In contrast, many homesalso have 10Base-T Ethernet networks, which sometimes require a centralhub. As used herein, the term “10Base-T” can be understood to includenewer implementations of Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair wiring,including, for instance, 100 megabit Ethernet (100Base-T, 100VG-AnyLAN,etc.) and gigabit Ethernet (1000Base-T) standards. The AND 107 cansupport these and other network topologies, serving as the hub in a10Base-T network if necessary.

FIG. 1G illustrates another exemplary configuration 150 for using anANID 151 in an xDSL implementation, according to certain embodiments ofthe invention. In some embodiments, distribution point 154 can comprisea host digital terminal 156 coupled by transport medium 158 to DSLAM160. As noted above, however, in other embodiments, DSLAM 160 can beconsidered the distribution point. Host digital terminal 156 can becoupled to any of a variety of data sources and/or recipients, eitherdirectly, or indirectly, such as through the provider's network and/orthe Internet. In the illustrated embodiment, transport medium 158 can bea Synchronous Optical NETwork (“SONET”) link (e.g., OC-3, OC-12, etc.),although those skilled in the art will recognize that other suitabletransport media may be substituted.

In accordance with some embodiments, distribution point 154 alsocomprises a central office shelf 162 in communication with the PSTN 164,as well with an asynchronous transfer mode (“ATM”) network 166, eitherof which can provide connectivity to any of the variety of data sourcesand/or recipients discussed above. In certain embodiments, shelf 162 is,in turn, coupled to fiber distribution panel 168, which is connected bytransport medium 170 to a digital loop carrier remote terminationcabinet 172. Remote termination cabinet 172 can also be coupled to DSLAM160 by transport medium 174, which may be routed through serving areainterface 176. In effect, transport medium 174 can carry one or morePOTS information sets, and transport medium 158 can carry one or morenon-POTS (in this case xDSL) information sets.

As illustrated, these two information sets can be combined at DSLAM 160,which is in communication with serving area interface 176 throughtransport medium 178. Serving area interface 176 can be coupled todemarcation device 152 of ANID 151 with transport medium 180. Inaddition to the demarcation device 152, the ANID 151 comprises aplurality of application devices 153 adapted to provide applications tovarious equipment within the customer premises 182. In the illustratedembodiment, the ANID 151 is fixedly attached to an exterior wall at thecustomer premises 182. The application devices 153 of the ANID 151 maythen be coupled via one or more internal transport media 184A–I to avariety of CPE, including without limitation a television set 186, avideo phone 188, an IP-compatible set-top box 190, an analog (POTS)telephone 192, an IP-compatible phone 194, and a personal computer 196.In this way, an ANID 151 can be used to provide a plurality oftelecommunication services to a customer premises.

One exemplary embodiment of an ANID 200 is illustrated in FIGS. 2A and2B. For purposes of illustration, FIG. 2A provides a top view thatexplicitly shows various components included within the ANID 200, whileFIG. 2B provides a side view that shows the logical organization of theANID 200 without the components. In the illustrated embodiment, ANID 200comprises a clamshell design; with a lid portion 204 and a body portion208 connected by hinges 212A and 212B. The body portion 208 comprises anetwork area 216 and a customer area 220. Generally, network area 216 isadapted to receive a cover and is designed generally to be accessibleonly to personnel authorized by the telecommunication service provider.In contrast, when ANID 200 is open, the customer can access customerarea 220 to add or remove components as desired. In this and other ways,the ANID 200 serves to isolate the telecommunication service provider'snetwork from the customer's network, as described above.

The ANID 200 can include a first interface 228 for communicating withthe provider's external transport medium. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that, in some embodiments, as described above, the externaltransport medium may comprise the twisted-pair copper “local loop”running from the customer's premises to the telecommunication serviceprovider's local office, and interface 228 will allow for the attachmentof the local loop to the ANID 200. As discussed above, in otherembodiments, the external transport medium can be any of a variety ofother media, including satellite transmissions, wireless transmissions,coaxial cable. In fact, in certain embodiments, the external transportmedium can comprise multiple transport media (of the same or differenttypes), for which the ANID 200 could include multiple interfaces. Insome such embodiments, the ANID 200 can function to couple a pluralityof external transport media to one another, seamlessly increasing thebandwidth available to the customer premises. For instance, a customerpremises might have a satellite link to one telecommunication serviceprovider and an ADSL link to another provider, and the ANID 200 couldcombine or multiplex these two links to provide an apparent single,higher-bandwidth to the customer premises. Similarly, those skilled inthe art will recognize that in certain of these embodiments, aparticular external transport medium, such as a satellite link, may bemore well-suited to one way transmission of telecommunicationinformation; in such cases, the ANID 200 could use a second externaltransport medium, such as an ADSL link, to allow transmission in theother direction.

Interface 228 can be coupled to a discrimination device 232, which canbe operative to separate information sets received on interface 228,and, conversely, aggregate information sets for transmission oninterface 22). Merely by way of example, in particular embodiments,discrimination device 232 can separate POTS information from othertelecommunication information and/or isolate signals on the internaltransport medium from the external transport medium and vice versa. Insome embodiments, for instance xDSL implementations, discriminationdevice 232 can comprise one or more filters. Such filters can include,but are not limited to, high-pass, low-pass, and/or band-pass filters.For instance, in an xDSL implementation, discrimination device 232 mightinclude a high-pass and/or low-pass filter for separating high-frequency(e.g., data) from low frequency (e.g., POTS) information. In otherembodiments, discrimination device 232 can comprise many other types offilters, including both digital and analog filters. Discriminationdevice 232 can be operable to separate information sets through avariety of criteria, including for example, by frequency, by destinationdevice, information type, and/or frequency. Further, in certainembodiments, information sets can be multiplexed (for instance, usingvarious time-division multiplexing or wave-division multiplexing schemesknown in the art) for transmission over an external transport medium,and discrimination device 232 can comprise a demultiplexer capable ofseparating multiplexed signals and, optionally, routing each signal tothe necessary destination.

In the illustrated embodiment, discrimination device 232 is incommunication with a second interface 236, which can interface with thetelephone wires at the customer premises to provide traditional analogtelephone service. In some embodiments, an aggregator 240 can besituated between discrimination device 232 and interface 236 to allowadditional, perhaps non-POTS, information sets to be sent and receivedthrough interface 236 simultaneously with the POTS information. This caninclude, for example, aggregating information sets for transmission ofan HPNA signal over an internal transport medium.

The discrimination device can also be coupled to a processing system244, which in the illustrated embodiment is located in the lid portion204, and all non-POTS information sets can be routed to processingsystem 244 for additional processing. Processing system 244 is describedin detail below, but can, in general, comprise one or microprocessors,including digital signal processor (“DSP”) chips, memory devices,including both volatile and nonvolatile memories, and storage devices,including hard disk drives, optical drives and other media. In fact,processing system 244 can comprise the equivalent of one or morepersonal computers, running any of a variety of operating systems,including variants of Microsoft's Windows□ operating system, as well asvarious flavors of the UNIX□ operating system, including open sourceimplementations such as the several Linux□ and FreeBSD□ operatingsystems.

Telecommunication information or information sets can be processed byprocessing system 244 in a variety of ways, including, for example,routing a given information set to a particular interface, transforminginformation such as by encoding and/or decoding information andconverting between different transport protocols, storing information,filtering information, and any of the other functions described hereinwith respect to processing systems. In certain embodiments, processingsystem 244 can serve as the termination point for an external transportmedium; for instance processing system 244 can incorporate thefunctionality of an xDSL modem. In other embodiments, processing system244 can serve to identify quality-of-service requirements (for instance,latency requirements for voice transmissions and bandwidth requirementsfor streaming media transmissions, to name a few) and enforce thoserequirements, ensuring that sufficient bandwidth is provided to aparticular device, network segment or application to maintain thequality of service required.

In certain embodiments, such as those described above with respect toFIG. 1D, an ANID may comprise another interface in communication with asecond distribution point 104B through an additional external transportmedium 112A, perhaps operated by a different telecommunication serviceprovider. In such a case, the additional external interface could becoupled to discrimination device 232, or it could be coupled to anotherdiscrimination device, which could also be in communication withprocessing system 244, interface 236 and/or aggregator 240. Thus,certain embodiments allow a single ANID to serve as a communicationgateway between the customer premises and multiple telecommunicationservice providers, including combining or multiplexing multiple externaltransport media (each of which may be in communication with a differenttelecommunication service provider and/or telecommunication informationprovider) as discussed above.

In the illustrated example, processing system 244 is in communicationwith aggregator 240, which, as discussed above, can aggregate non-POTSinformation sets received from processing system 244 and POTSinformation sets received directly from discrimination device 232 forconsolidated transmission via interface 236. In effect, discriminationdevice 232 and aggregator 240, perhaps in conjunction with processingsystem 244, can function to separate telecommunication informationreceived on interface 228 into a set of POTS telecommunicationinformation and a set of non-POTS telecommunication information. POTSinformation can be understood to include ordinary telephone signals, andnon-POTS information can be understood to include all othertelecommunication information). The non-POTS information is routed viatransport medium 248 to processing system 244 for processing, and thePOTS information is routed to interface 236 for transmission to theinternal transport medium. In certain embodiments, one or more sets ofnon-POTS information can be routed to interface 236 using transportmedium 252 for transmission through interface 236, perhaps incombination with one or more sets of POTS information.

Of course, discrimination device 232 and aggregator 240 can perform thesame function in reverse, i.e., to separate and recombine different setsof telecommunication information received on interface 236 from thecustomer's premises. Thus, in some embodiments, both discriminationdevice 232 and aggregator 240 each can perform a combineddiscrimination-device-aggregator function, depending on the direction ofinformation flow. In fact, while termed “discrimination device” and“aggregator” for ease of description, those two devices can actually beidentical, and further, their functionality can, in some embodiments, beincorporated into a single device, which could be coupled to interface228, interface 236, and processing system 244, and could routeinformation sets among any of those three components as necessary.Moreover, as described below, the functionality of discrimination device232 and/or aggregator 240 can be incorporated into processing system244; likewise discrimination device 232 can incorporate interface 228and/or aggregator 240 can incorporate interface 236, such thatdiscrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 comprise the necessarycomponents to be coupled directly to the external and internal transportmedia, respectively.

Discrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 can also serve anotherfunction in certain embodiments: Since the external transport medium iscoupled to first interface 228 and the internal transport medium can becoupled to, inter alia, second interface 236, the discrimination device232 and/or aggregator 240 can serve as an isolation device forintermediating between the two media, such that when a topologicalchange occurs in one of the media, only the ANID interface need bechanged, and the other transport medium is not affected. In some suchembodiments, discrimination device 232 and/or aggregator 240 can serveto intermediate (including protocol translation and the like) betweeninterfaces 232, 240, allowing either the internal or the externaltransport medium to be upgraded or changed without impacting the othertransport medium. Of course, in certain embodiments, this isolationfunction also could be performed by processing system 244. In yet otherembodiments, the isolation device might comprise a separate piece ofhardware in communication with discrimination device 232, aggregator 240and/or processing system 244.

The ANID 200 may also comprise one or more application devices 246,which are usually disposed in the network area 216. The applicationdevices are generally provided in communication with the processingsystem 244 by transport media 251, 263, and/or 268. In some instances,such as illustrated with application devices 246A and 246B, theapplication devices may be in communication with interfaces 256 and 260that allow communication with transport media internal to the customerpremises, such as over transport media 264 and 269. For example,interface 256 could be a coaxial interface for connection to RG6 and/orRG59 cable, and interface 260 could be an RJ45 and/or RJ11 interface forconnection to unshielded twisted pair cable, which can, for instance,form a 10Base-T Ethernet network.

In other instances, such as illustrated with application device 246C,information might be routed from the application device 246C through theaggregator. Such an application may be suitable for applications thatuse IP data, such as a VoIP application. For example, the ANID 200 mightreceive IP data, perhaps combined with other types of telecommunicationinformation, on interface 228. The information set comprising the IPdata can be routed by the discrimination device 232 via medium 248 toprocessing system 244, where it can be processed. Depending on theembodiment, it could then be routed via transport medium 251 to VoIPapplication device 246C and then provided to the customer's existingtelephone wiring using interface 236, optionally in conjunction withaggregator 240 and/or one or more line drivers. It could alternativelybe routed to any of the other application devices 246A or 246B dependingon their functionality. In this way, the ANID can allow virtuallyunlimited connectivity options for each CPE at the customer premises.Adding to the flexibility of ANID 200, the processing system 244 couldinclude components to serve, for example, as a cable or xDSL modem, aswell as components to serve as an Ethernet hub, switch, router, orgateway, the functions of each of which are familiar to those of skillin the art.

There are a variety of different application devices 246 that beincorporated within the ANID 200 in order to provide a versatile rangeof functionality. The following examples are provided merely by way ofillustration and still other application devices that may additionallyor alternatively be used will be evident to those of skill in the artafter reading this description. One application device 246 that may beincluded is a digital-recorder application device, which could provide amechanism for digital recording of all forms of information incoming tothe AND 200 and make them accessible to a user at the customer premises.The information that could be recorded includes video, data, voice,among other types of information. Another application device 246 thatmay be included is a digital storage application device, which couldprovide a supplementary mechanism for storing information presented touser applications. The information that could be stored also includesvideo, data, voice, and other types of information. The combination ofthe digital-recorder application device and digital-storage applicationdevice in an ANID 200 may be used conveniently to provide primary andsecondary information-storage capabilities. For example, thedigital-recorder application could be used to provide a primary,on-line, video storage capability while the digital-storage applicationcould be used to provide a secondary, off-line, video storagecapability. Still other application devices could be included to enhancesuch functionality further. For example, hard-drive application devicecould be provided to permit expandable storage capabilities.

Other examples of application devices 246 whose functions may beconveniently coordinated include digital-asset application devices. Forexample, one of the application devices 246 in the ANID 200 couldcomprise a digital-asset sharing application device to permit sharing ofinformation among equipment within the customer premises. Such anasset-sharing capability may be used within the customer premises toshare video, data, electronic books, games, music, and the like. Anotherof the application devices 246 could comprise a digital-asset cachingapplication device to permit storage and distribution of digital assets.The combination of digital-asset sharing application devices anddigital-asset caching application devices among a plurality of ANIDs 200in a service are could then be used to permit exchange of video, data,electronic books, games, music, and the like among customer premisesthroughout a defined service area. In some instances, a furtherapplication device 246 could comprise a digital-asset protectionapplication device to control the distribution of digital assets inaccordance with legal restrictions, such as those derived from copyrightownership.

In some embodiments, the application devices 246 may compriseapplication devices for effecting various voice-related applicationswithin a customer premises. For example, a voice application devicecould include functionality to provide such functions as telephonecaller identification, call logs, voice mail-storage, voice-mailretrieval, call waiting, solicitation barriers, and the like. Inaddition, a VoIP application device could provide support for VoIPfunctions within the customer premises.

Still other application devices 246 that may be used include varioustypes of informational applications. For example, an online digitalguide application device could be used to provide a digital data guidefor television, music, and other types of programming. Such a data guidecould be provided alternatively in real time or in non-real-time. Afurther example of an informational application could be realized with ahome-utilities application device adapted to provide monitoring and/orbilling tracking functions for utilities used within the customerpremises. In this way, the use and/or cost of electricity, gas, water,and other utilities may be monitored by the customer. In addition, adiagnostic-interface application device may be provided to permitdiagnostic functions of equipment within the customer premises, therebypermitting the customer to obtain information on the functioning of suchequipment.

Other application devices 246 may provide security functions. Forexample, a data security application device may be used to providehacker protection for the home, responding to identified attempts tobreach the security of the customer premises. In addition, ahome-security application device could be provided to monitor thephysical security of the customer premises. Such a home-securityapplication device would typically be provided with an interface to doorand window monitors to determine whether they are open or shut, and withan interface to motion detectors, glass-breaking detectors, and otherphysical security equipment known to those of skill in the art.

Application devices 246 may also be provided to permit various types ofdata-conversion functions to be used by the customer premises. Forexample, a digital-information-conversion application device may beprovided to convert digital information incoming to the ANID 200 to beconverted to other sources for use by CPE in the customer premises.Thus, incoming digital information could be converted to analoginformation for use by analog equipment, such as an analog television.Similarly, incoming broadcast video could be converted for transmissionto a PDA, and the like. Similarly, a wireless application device couldbe used to provide a wireless interface to the customer premises fordata, video, and other types of information. Merely by way of example,if interface 228 receives telecommunication information that includesdigitally encoded video signals, such as MPEG-2 data, the informationset that includes the encoded video signals can be routed bydiscrimination device 232 to processing system 244. After transmissionfrom the processing system to the information-conversion applicationdevice over transport medium 263, the signals can be decoded intoRF-modulated NTSC, HDTV and/or PAL format for transmission via transportmedium 264 to coaxial interface 256, where it can be transmitted viacoaxial cable to one or more televisions at the customer premises.Alternatively, if the customer has a digital set-top box located at thetelevision, the encoded signals can be routed by to aggregator 240,where the signals can be transferred through interface 236 to theset-top box for decoding. The ability of the ANID 200 to supportmultiple interfaces of different types thus allows great flexibility inrouting telecommunication information throughout the customer premises.

Each of the application devices 246 in the AND may include a serviceinterface 277 to permit states of the application devices 246 to bechanged and/or updated. As previously notes, such interfaces maycomprise physical interfaces such as USB, FireWire, RJ-11, RJ-45,serial, coaxial, or other physical interfaces, to permit a servicetechnician to interact with the application devices 246 while at thesite of the ANID 200. Alternatively, the service interfaces may compriselogical interfaces to permit IP addressing to be used in changing thestate of the application devices. In many instances, the ANID 200 mayalso include a future-application device with open architecture tosupport new applications. The architecture may be configured by use ofthe service interfaces 277 when the new application is implemented.

In certain embodiments, ANID 200 can comprise a line driver (not shownon FIG. 2A or 2B), coupled to processing system 244 and aggregator 240.The line driver can function to allow conversion between various networkformats and media, allowing a variety of different media types, e.g.,twisted pair and/or coaxial cable, in accordance with the HPNA and HPNA+standards, as well, perhaps, as the customer premises' A/C wiring, inaccordance, for example, with the HomePlug□ standard, to transportcombined POTS and non-POTS information sets.

In certain embodiments, ANID 200 can comprise a power supply 272 forproviding electrical power to the components in ANID 200. Power supply272 can be powered through electrical current carried on the externaltransport medium and received on interface 228. Alternatively, powersupply can receive electrical current from a coaxial interface, such asinterface 256, or through a dedicated transformer plugged into an ACoutlet at customer premises, e.g., through 12V connection 276.Processing system 244 can be powered by a connection 280 to power supply272, or through one or more separate power sources, including perhapsthe A/C power of the customer premises. In some embodiments, processingsystem 244 might have its own power supply.

As mentioned above, processing system 244 can comprise a plurality ofprocessing devices, and each processing device can comprise multiplecomponents, including microservers, memory devices, storage devices andthe like. Merely by way of example, FIG. 2C provides a detailedillustration of an exemplary processing system 244, which comprisesmultiple processing devices 291. In accordance with the exemplifiedembodiment, transport medium 248 links processing system 244 with anexternal transport medium, perhaps via a discrimination device and/orinterface, as described above.

Transport medium 248 can be coupled to a plurality of microservers 291such that any information received by the processing system 244 viatransport medium 248 may be routed to any of the microservers 291. Eachmicroserver can, in some embodiments, be the equivalent of a servercomputer, complete with memory devices, storage devices, and the like,each of which is known in the art. In FIG. 2C, storage devices 293associated with each of the microservers 291 are shown. Each of themicroservers may be associated with one of the application devices 246to provide information received from transport medium 248 andspecifically processed for use by the corresponding device. Thus, themicroservers 291 may individually be adapted to function as, forexample, HTML microservers, authentication microservers, FTPmicroservers, TFTP microservers, DHCP microservers, WebServermicroservers, email microservers, critical alert microservers,home-security microservers, VPN microservers, advertising microservers,instant-messaging microservers, wireless microservers, rf microservers,test-access microservers, data-security microservers, and the like.

In addition to these functions, microservers 291 can be configured toroute information sets received via transport medium 248, according tothe type of telecommunication information in the set (e.g., encodedvideo, IP data, etc.) as well as any addressing information associatedwith either the set or the information it comprises (e.g., a specifieddestination port or network address for a particular subset oftelecommunication information). In this way, microservers 291 can serveswitching functions somewhat similar to that described with respect todiscrimination device 232 described in relation to FIG. 2A. Forinstance, if IP data is received by microserver 291A, such data can berouted to an Ethernet connection, to the existing telephone wiring,e.g., in an HPNA implementation, or to any other appropriate medium,perhaps via an appropriate line driver. In fact, in certain embodiments,processing system 244, and in particular one or more of microservers291, can incorporate the functionality of discrimination device 232and/or aggregator 240, rendering those components optional. In someembodiments, one or more of the microservers may be adapted to functionas a controller for the ANID 200, overseeing the ANID's state andmonitoring performance. In some embodiments, the controller functionscan be accessed using a web browser.

Processing system 244 can have multiple means of input and output.Merely by way of example, microservers 296 can communicate with one ormore external transport media (perhaps, as discussed above, viaintermediary devices) using one or more transport media (e.g., 248).Processing system 244 also can communicate with one or more internaltransport media via a variety of information conduits, such as category5, 5e and/or 6 unshielded twisted pair wire 268, RG6 and/or RG59 coaxialcable 264, and category 3 unshielded twisted pair copper (telephone)wire 252, again possibly via intermediary devices, as discussed withreference to FIG. 2A. Notably, some embodiments of processing system 244can include interfaces for multiple transport media of a particulartype, for instance, if processing system 244 serves as a networking hub,switch or router. Processing system 244 can also have infra-red andradio-frequency receivers and transmitters, for instance to allow use ofa remote control device, as well as wireless transceivers, for instanceto allow wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11) networking.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system 500 in which an ANID 504 inaccordance with certain embodiments of the invention is interconnectedvia several internal transport media to a wide variety of CPE, providingmany different telecommunication services. ANID 504 is in communicationwith a telecommunication service provider's network via externaltransport medium 506, which can be any of the media described above; inthis exemplary embodiment, it is a twisted pair copper “local loop,”capable of carrying one or more POTS data sets and one or more xDSLinformation sets. ANID 504 can have a processing system 508 incommunication with discrimination device 512, which can be a combinedhigh pass/low pass filter. As mentioned above, discrimination device 512can function to separate POTS information sets from non-POTS informationsets, with the former routed to aggregator 516, which can serve as aninterface to a category 3 twisted pair internal transport medium 520.Processing system 508 can also be in communication with aggregator 516,so that non-POTS information sets may be transmitted using transportmedium 520 as well.

Attached to internal transport medium 520, which, in the illustratedembodiment can support the HPNA standard, can be a normal POTS telephone524, along with an integrated access device, which, among other things,can provide POTS service via IP data transmitted via the HPNA network oninternal transport medium 520. In the illustrated embodiment, threeadditional POTS telephones 532A, 532B, 532C are coupled to theintegrated access device, although those skilled in the art willappreciate that certain embodiments will support different numbers andtypes of devices attached to the integrated access device. Also attachedto transport medium 520 is a VoIP telephone 536, as well as a personalcomputer 540, which can use system 500 to access the Internet, amongother things.

Further embodiments include an IP-compatible utility meter 544, whichcan allow a utility provider such as a city water department orelectrical utility to monitor and bill utility usage over the Internetor the telecommunication service provider's network, and/or anIP-compatible home security system 548, which can allow the customer tomonitor and control home security functions remotely. Via an Internetconnection to ANID 504, a customer on vacation could administer homesecurity system 548, view images from security cameras, check the statusof all sensors, and even turn various lights in the house on and off.

Internal transport medium 520 can also be coupled to an IP-compatibleset-top box 552, which may have a television 556 attached. In addition,certain embodiments allow for a video phone 560 to be included in system500 and attached to medium 520. Processing system 504 can also support adigital-to-analog converter 564 (perhaps with a ring generator), toallow direct connection of a POTS phone 568 to the AND, perhaps fortesting purposes.

As mentioned above, ANID 504 can support a variety of other interfacesand attachments as well. For example, in certain embodiments, ANID 504(and more precisely processing system 508) can comprise one or morefiber optic interfaces, including for example, IEEE 1394 interface 572,as well a variety of standard Ethernet connections, including forexample a category 5 10Base-T interface 576 that can be used, forexample, to attach one or more personal computers (e.g., 580) to ANID504, as well as a wireless interface 578. Processing system 508 can alsoinclude a coaxial (RG6 and/or RG59) interface, either through use of abalun 588 (to convert, for example, from twisted pair to coaxial cable)or through a direct coaxial connection to processing system 508.

Like the other interfaces, coaxial interface 584 can support a widevariety of CPE and associated services, including transmission of both avideo (e.g., NTSC or PAL) information set and a data (e.g., IP data)information set, simultaneously. Supported devices can include an IPresidential gateway, which can provide IP to NTSC/PAL conversion forvideo display on a television 598, as well as direct IP connectivity,for example, to provide Internet access to a personal computer 602.Through coaxial interface 584, AND 504 can also communicate with anIP-compatible set-top box, as well as directly with a cable-readytelevision 610, a personal computer 614 (either via a coaxial connectionon the computer or through a balun), a POTS telephone 618 (for instance,through an integrated access device 622), or to any other IP-compatibledevice 626, such as a utility meter, home security system or the like.As discussed above, ANID 504 can be programmable and/or addressable, andin some embodiments, ANID 504 can include an application programminginterface 630 to facilitate in the programming and/or addressing of AND504.

Notably, different embodiments of the AND can provide several benefits,including simultaneous video, data and voice transmission, whilemaintaining required Quality of Service levels for each particularinformation set. Further, some embodiments of the ANID can comprise arouter that is capable of multi-protocol label switching (“MPLS”),which, those skilled in the art will recognize, allows thetelecommunication service provider tremendous flexibility in designingthe architecture of the external transport medium, including options,such as “Ethernet in the last mile” and tag switching, that provideenhanced features and performance across the provider's network. Variousembodiments of the ANID also allow for a plurality of virtual privatenetworks to be established through the ANID, allowing one or more securedata connections from the customer premises to other locations.

Other embodiments of the invention include methods for providingtelecommunication information to a transport medium internal to acustomer premises. In some instances, such methods may make use of theANID structure described above. Several such embodiments are thereforesummarized with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 4. Specific details ofhow each of the steps shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented have beendiscussed at length above; accordingly, these steps are described onlybriefly in connection with FIG. 4. At block 704, telecommunicationinformation is received from a first external transport medium. Such anexternal transport medium in many cases corresponds to a transportmedium external to a customer premises. In many embodiments, the methodmay function only with telecommunication information received from afirst external transport medium, although in other embodiments,telecommunication information may additionally be received fromadditional external transport media, as indicated at block 708.

The transport media internal to the customer premises and the transportmedia external to the customer premises are isolated at block 712,permitting a flow of telecommunication information between the internaland external transport media to be mediated at block 716. In someinstances, the telecommunication information received from the one ormore external transport media may include voice signals andnon-voice-signals. Accordingly, in some such cases, the voice signalsare separated from the non-voice-signals at block 720.

The received telecommunication information may thus be processed atblock 728, such as by using one or more microservers in a processingsystem as described above. The processed information may then betransmitted to one or more addressable application devices at blocks 732and 736 to permit implementation of the applications provided by suchaddressable application devices. The application devices implement theirrespective applications over the internal transport medium at block 740.In some instances, the functionality of the application devices may bechanged by changing a state of the one or more addressable applicationdevices in accordance with the new functionality at block 744.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that while the blocks in FIG.4 are provided in an exemplary order, there is no requirement thatrespective steps be performed in the order shown. In some embodiments,the respective steps may be performed in a different order. Also, thereis no requirement that all of the steps shown in FIG. 4 be performed ina given embodiment since the telecommunication information may beprovided to the internal transport medium in accordance with embodimentsof the invention by performing a subset of the recited steps.

C. Picture-in-Picture

As previously stated, some embodiments of the present invention providesystems and methods for providing picture-in-picture displays inrelation to a NID, while others provide such displays without involvinga NID. For purposes of clarity, the various embodiments are described inrelation to a NID, and the section following describes the otherembodiments.

Turning to FIG. 5 a, a system 500 for serving picture-in-picture videostreams is illustrated. System 500 includes a head end server 510 thatprovides two video signals, video signal A 530 and video signal B 532,and a selector signal 534 that are coupled in some way to a NID 520. Aswill be appreciated from the previous discussion of the various NIDs andsystems incorporating NIDs, the coupling between head end server 510 andNID 520 can be fiber-optic, copper, wireless, and the like, or even somecombination thereof. In some cases, NID 520 further includes adecompression engine 521 and a compositing device 522. Bothdecompression engine 521 and compositing device 522 can be used toformat composite video signal 540 from the various input data and/orvideo signals. In addition, head end server 510 can include an encoder515 and a resolution modifier 513.

Encoder 515 can be any encoder capable of converting data to a videoimage of a particular format. For example, encoder 515 may convert adigital video file to an MPEG-2 format with a high bit rate, an MPEG-2format with a low bit rate, an MPEG-4 format with a high or lowbit-rate, or any other formats used to transfer video information. Thus,for example, in some cases, a cable television channel is received in aparticular format at head end server 510 and encoded for transmission asvideo signal A 530 in, for example, MPEG-4 format. Another networktelevision channel can be received at head end server 510 and encodedfor transmission as video signal B 532 in, for example, MPEG-2 format.Yet other alternatives involve receiving a data stream from an Internetsite that can be encoded as an MPEG, or other video format, fortransmission to NID 520. The information from the Internet site can bestatic such as that generally encountered on a news site, or streaminginformation such as video or stock ticker information.

Resolution modifier 513 can be any device that is capable of modifyingthe resolution of display information transmitted as video signal A 530and/or video signal B 532. This similarly applies to video signal 531and data signal 533 (which is a video representation of the data) asdepicted in FIG. 5 b. Thus, for example, resolution modifier 513 caninclude a line dropper, a column dropper, a line and column averagingunit, an interpolator, or any algorithm or device known in the art formodifying the size and/or resolution of a video image.

System 500 further includes a home appliance 550 that receives acomposite video signal from NID 520 and a selector 560 that is incommunication with NID 520 via a selector coupling 570. For the purposesof these embodiments, home appliance 550 can be any device that includesa display, such as, for example, a television or a computer monitor. Theselector coupling can be any mechanism for transferring information fromselector 560 to NID 520. Thus, for example, selector coupling 570 can bea wireless connection such as infra red or radio frequency, a wiredconnection, or the like. FIG. 5 b depicts a system 501 that is similarto the previously described system 500. In system 501, a Central OfficeServer 511 provides a video signal 531 and a data signal 533 to NID 520.

The operation of systems 500 and 501 is described in relation to FIGS. 6and 7. Turning to FIG. 6, a flow diagram 600 illustrates various methodsin accordance with the present inventions. It should be noted that theoperation of both systems 500 and 501 are similar. Thus, for simplicity,FIGS. 6 and 7 are described in relation to system 510 as far aspractical. Following flow diagram 600, a main screen signal (block 610),and a partial screen signal are selected (block 620). In some cases, themain screen signal includes the video program that will be viewed on theentire screen of a display device, while the partial screen signal issuperimposed over a portion of the main screen to create apicture-in-picture effect. Selection can be performed by way of selector560. In one embodiment, selector 560 is a remote control thatcommunicates with NID 520. In other embodiments, selector 560 is amicroprocessor based device with an integrated display. Based on thedisclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize a number of other devices that can perform the function ofselector 560. Using such a selector, a user can indicate a source ofvideo information, or other data that the user desires to be displayedon the full screen of home appliance 550, or a portion of home appliance550. Further, the user can indicate a source of video information, orother data that the user desires to be displayed either over thepreviously selected source, or at another location on the display. Asource of video information can be, but is not limited to, a networktelevision station, a cable television station, a pay-per-view movie, anInternet site providing video feeds, and the like. Similarly, a sourceof data can be, but is not limited to, an Internet site providing eitherstatic or streaming data, or the like.

In some cases, the selection process further includes indicating thesize of one of the video or data sources on the display screen. Thus,for example, a user may select channel ten to be the full screen displaywith channel eight superimposed thereon. The user can further indicatethat channel ten is one eighth the size of the full screen, or oneeighth the size of the main screen. Alternatively, the user may indicatethat channel ten is one size relative to the display, and that channeleight is another size relative to the display. Based on this disclosure,one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the variety of sizeinformation that can be provided via selector 560.

Yet further, in some embodiments, the selection process further includesindicating the location of one of the video or data sources in relationto the display screen. For example, a user may indicate via selector 560that a particular display is to be located at the top of a displayscreen, or in a particular quadrant of a display screen. As one specificexample, one channel may be displayed such that it is superimposed overthe upper right quadrant of another. As another example, a stock tickeravailable as streaming data from an Internet site could be displayedacross the bottom of a display screen such that it is superimposed overa television channel, or other data channel. Based on this disclosure,one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a myriad of otherpossibilities for adjusting the size and/or location of one videodisplay superimposed over another.

A selection signal is provided from selector 560 to NID 520 via selectorcoupling 570, and in turn at least a portion of the selection signal ispassed from NID 520 to head end server 510 as selector signal 534 (block630). In one particular embodiment, only the portion of the selectionsignal that indicates which sources of video and/or data are to bereceived is provided to head end server 510. This can be the case wherethe video and/or data transmitted to the NID is not sized, or adjustedfor location at head end server 510. Alternatively, where head endserver 510 modifies video and/or data signals transmitted to NID 520,size and/or location information included in the selection signal can betransferred.

Head end server 510 receives the selection signal, and accesses the mainscreen signal and the partial screen signal indicated by the selectionsignal (blocks 640, 650). As previously discussed, the main screensignal and the partial screen signals can be video signals, such as anetwork television channel, or a data source that will be converted to avideo signal. The signals can be accessed from a number of sourcesdepending upon the particular implementation of the system. For example,the signals can be accessed from a cable television feed, a networktelevision feed or antenna, the Internet, a virtual private network, orthe like available at head end server 510.

Once the selected signals are accessed, they are converted (blocks 640,650). This conversion can include using encoder 515 to format thesignals in a desired format. Thus, for example, both the partial andmain screen signals may be formatted as MPEG-4 signals. Where one of thesignals is a data source, such as an Internet site, the informationaccessed from the Internet site is converted to the MPEG-4 format. Thisconversion can involve a continuous process where the data provided fromthe Internet site is, for example, streaming data. Alternatively, whereone of the signals is a video source, the format of the video source canbe modified to the selected MPEG-4 output.

Further, the output video and/or data signals (530, 531, 532, 533) canbe different formats. For example, the main screen signal may betransmitted as video signal A 530 and the partial screen signal may betransmitted as video signal B 532. Video signal A 530 may be formattedas a higher resolution, larger size, and/or lower compression than thatof video signal B 532. This can be done to save transmission bandwidthwithout significantly degrading the end user's enjoyment. Morespecifically, as the partial screen signal is watched in a smaller areathan that of the main screen signal, a reduction in resolution of thepartial screen signal is not as noticeable as it would be if theresolution of the main screen signal were reduced. As just someexamples, the partial screen signal may be provided as an MPEG-2 signal,while the main screen signal is provided as an MPEG4 signal.Alternatively, the partial screen signal may be provided as a low bitrate MPEG-2 signal, while the main screen signal is provided as a highbit rate MPEG-2 signal.

In some cases, the conversion of the main and partial screen signalsincludes converting both signals to full size images. Thepicture-in-picture effect is then implemented at NID 520 where the sizeof the partial screen signal is reduced for overlay on the main screensignals. In other embodiments, the size of the partial screen signal isreduced at head end server 510 by resolution modifier 513. In suchcases, a standard size reduction may be used, or the size may bedictated by size information included with selector signal 534. Forexample, where the partial screen signal is to be displayed as oneeighth the size of the main screen signal, resolution modifier mayreduce the resolution of the partial screen signal to one eighth thesize of the main screen signal. This can be done, for example, byaveraging each eight lines of video information to create a singledisplay line. The same process can be repeated across columns. In thisway, lines and/or columns are dropped and the size of the displayinformation is reduced. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognizea myriad of ways known in the art for reducing the resolution, size,and/or increasing the compression of the partial screen signal.

The selected and converted main screen and partial screen signals arethen transmitted to NID 520 (block 660). Both the partial screen andmain screen signals are combined by NID 520 using compositing device 522to create a composite signal (block 670). Such a composite signal canbe, for example, an NTSC or PAL video signal, a raster image signal, orthe like. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize various waysfor creating such a composite signal, including decompressing incomingsignals that are compressed using decompressor 521, overlaying thepartial screen signal over a portion of the main screen signal, andencoding the combined signal in the desired format. In some cases, NID520 uses the size and/or location information from selector 560 to sizeand locate the partial screen signal in relation to the main screensignal. Alternatively, where the partial screen signal was already sizedby head end server 510, NID 520 may simply need to locate the partialscreen signal within the main screen signal. As yet another alternative,NID 520 may perform its function using a standard size and location forthe partial screen signal, and thus the size and location information isnot used and/or gathered.

The composite signal is then provided to a display device (block 680).The display device can then decode the composite signal and display itas it would any composite signal, with the difference being that apicture-in-picture will be displayed without requiring multiple tunersas is common in may picture-in-picture enabled televisions. Further, thepictures can be obtained from any number of sources, including, but notlimited to, cable television stations, network television stations,pay-per-view sources, the Internet, and the like.

FIG. 7 provide a logical representation of the processes described inrelation to FIG. 6 above. First, referring to FIG. 7 a, a main screensignal is represented as a full channel A 710 a, and a partial screensignal is represented as a full channel B 720 a. Each of the channels710 a and 720 a are transferred to NID 520 as video signal A 530 andvideo signal B 532, respectively. NID 520 then reduces full channel B720 a to a smaller size and/or resolution relative to full channel A 710a, and forms a composite signal with the reduced full channel B 720 a,represented as an image 720 b, superimposed over full channel 710 a,represented as an image 710 b. The composite signal is then provided toa display device that displays an image 750. It should be recognizedthat only a single video window is displayed over a full video window,however, based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate that a number of video windows can besuperimposed over another video windows. Alternatively, or in addition,a number of video signals can be displayed in a split screen format witheach of the windows being displayed over a portion of the screen, suchas for example, four video signals each encompassing a quarter of avideo screen. Additionally, the video signals can be nested. Forexample, a first picture-in-picture signal can be superimposed over amain screen signal, and a second picture-in-picture can be displayedsuperimposed over the first picture-in-picture window. Thus, as just oneexample, a picture-in-picture display can include a number of thumbnailpictures. Such thumbnail pictures can be live video feeds, staticimages, or video feeds that are updated at a reduced rate. Yet further,the audio portion of a video presentation can be selected for viewing.Thus, the audio portion associated with the video played in thepicture-in-picture window can be selected. Alternatively, the audioportion associated with the video presentation displayed on the mainscreen can be selected. As yet another alternative, the audio programselected may not be associated with any of the displayed video programs.Based on this disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate a number of different selection processes that can be appliedto select an audio program for presentation with various video programs.

Turning to FIG. 7 b, a variation is described where head end server 510reduces fill channel B 720 a prior to transmitting to NID 520. Asdepicted, full channel A 710 a is transmitted to NID 520 as video signalA 530. In addition, full channel B 720 a is reduced, to form reducedchannel B 720 c. Reduced channel B 720 c is then transmitted to NID 520as video signal B 532. Reduced channel B 720 c can be reduced in size,resolution, and/or bandwidth. Thus, as previously discussed, encoder 515can compress full channel 720 a, and/or resolution modifier 513 canreduce the resolution of full channel 720 a to achieve reduced channel B720 c. NID 520 forms a composite signal with the reduced channel B 720c, represented as an image 720 b, superimposed over full channel 710 a,represented as an image 710 b. The composite signal is then provided toa display device that displays an image. 750.

Turning to FIG. 7 c, a variation is described where head end server 510reduces full channel B 720 a prior to transmitting to NID 520, andfurther eliminates data from the area where reduced channel B 720 c willbe superimposed. Full channel A 710 a with the picture-in-picture windoweliminated is represented as channel 710 c. Where the signal formatsallow for such data elimination, this approach reduces the bandwidthrequired to transmit full channel A 710 a to NID 520, without reducingthe viewing enjoyment of an end user. Head end server 510 can eliminatethe data from full channel A 710 a using location and/or sizeinformation provided by selector signal 534. NID 520 forms a compositesignal with the reduced channel B 720 c, represented as an image 720 b,superimposed over full channel 710 a with the eliminatedpicture-in-picture window, represented as an image 710 b. The compositesignal is then provided to a display device that displays an image 750.

Turning to FIG. 8, a system 800 includes multiple display devicesincluding two televisions (850, 860), and a personal computer 840.System 800 includes at least one video source 820 and at least oneInternet source 810. Video source 820 and/or Internet source 810 canperform various functions as previously described in relation to headend server 510 or central office server 511. As previously described,the information from one or more of the sources is provided to NID 830.For reasons that are discussed below in relation to FIG. 9, system 800can further include a video camera 870, or other video sourcesincluding, but not limited to, a personal video recorder, a videoplayback machine, and the like.

Alternatively, video source 820 and Internet source 810 can betraditional sources, such as, a traditional Internet Service Provider,an antenna for network television, a satellite television antenna, acable television supply, or the like. In such a system, NID 830 couldprovide the equipment for selecting multiple video and/or data sources,overlaying one atop the other, and providing a composite signal to thevarious display devices 840, 850, 860. Further, NID 830 could beconfigured to support picture-in-picture for multiple display devices840, 850, 860, or for some subset of the display devices.

Turning to FIG. 9, a flow diagram 900 depicts an embodiment of a methodin accordance with the present invention. The method of FIG. 9 isdescribed in relation to system 800, but could also be implemented inrelation to other systems including, for example, systems 500 and 501,and derivatives thereof that may incorporate one or more featuresdescribed above in relation to FIG. 1. The method provides a means formonitoring activity on one or more of display devices 840, 850, 860,from another of the display devices. Further, the method provides formonitoring other video sources 870 by way of one of the display devices.In one exemplary application, this allows a parent to monitor theprograms and/or Internet sites being watched by their children. To dothis, the method involves receiving a video signal that a parent wouldlike to watch, and displaying that signal on the screen of a displaydevice. The parent can also choose to watch what a child is watching inanother room as a picture superimposed over the parent's desiredprogram. Based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will recognize a number of other applications for the methodsdescribed in relation to flow diagram 900.

Following flow diagram 900, a main screen signal is selected for displayon display device 850 (block 910). This can be done as described abovein relation to FIG. 6, or simply by tuning display device 850 to aparticular channel. Another display or video source can then be selectedfor monitoring (block 920). For example, a user may select monitoring ofdisplay device 860, display device 840, or video source 870 that may belocated remote from display device 850. The main screen signal isreceived from video source 820 or Internet source 810 (block 930), andif necessary, converted to a signal format that is compatible with thecombining process that is discussed in relation to block 950 below.

In addition, the signal selected as the other display/source (840, 860,870) is received at NID 830 (block 940). As just some examples, thesignal selected as the other display/source can be a television signalreceived from video source 820 that is being watched on display device860. This signal can be obtained in various ways including, for example,monitoring the channel selection on display device 860 and accessingthat channel at NID 830. Alternatively, this signal can be obtain byhaving display device 860 re-transmit whatever channel it decodes andcommunicating the re-transmission to NID 830. As another example, thesignal selected as the other display/source can be an Internet signalreceived from Internet source 810 that is being displayed on displaydevice 840. This signal can be obtained in various ways including, forexample, by monitoring data received via NID 830 and directed to displaydevice 840. Alternatively, this signal can be obtain by having displaydevice 840 re-transmit whatever Internet site that it receives andcommunicating the re-transmission to NID 830. This can includetransferring a data signal back to NID 830, or converting the datasignal to a video signal, and transferring the video signal to NID 830.As yet another example, the signal selected as the other display/sourcecan be a video signal received from video source 870 coupled either viaa wireless connection, or physically to NID 830.

The main screen signal and the signal selected as the otherdisplay/source are then combined at NID 830 using a compositing device831 (block 950). This can include superimposing the signal selected asthe other display/source over the main screen signal, and formatting thesuperimposed image as a composite video signal. This composite videosignal is then provided to display 850 (block 960). Thus, using methodsin accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, aperson watching a program on display device 850 can have a program thatis being watched on one or more of display devices 840, 860 or generatedby video source 870 displayed within a window superimposed on displaydevice 850. This allows a user to monitor media being watched in otherlocations, without getting up and moving away from display device 850.

In addition, it should be noted that picture-in-picture support can beprovided without a ND. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a homeappliance 1020 can be relied upon to perform the functions described inrelation to the NID in systems 500, 501 and 801 above. In doing so, homeappliance 1020 receives selection information from a selector 1040. Inaddition, home appliance 1020 provides video and/or data received fromvideo source 1010 to display 1030 as a composite video signal. Such ahome appliance can be, but is not limited to a set top box or a networkserver capable of transforming data signals to video signals. The homeappliance can include decompression and/or compositing devices similarto NID 520 described above.

The invention has now been described in detail for purposes of clarityand understanding. However, it will be appreciated that certain changesand modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appendedclaims. For example, the present invention can be used to combine threeor more video and/or data signals to create a picture-in-picture imagewith multiple video images superimposed over another video image. As yetanother example, the present invention can be applied to create multiplevideo images on a display that are not superimposed over one another.Accordingly, it should be recognized that many other systems, functions,methods, and combinations thereof are possible in accordance with thepresent invention. Thus, although the invention is described withreference to specific embodiments and figures thereof, the embodimentsand figures are merely illustrative, and not limiting of the invention.Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined solely by theappended claims.

1. A system for providing picture-in-picture, at a user display device,the system comprising: a first video signal and a second video signal; atransmission device, wherein the transmission device includes a selectorinterface for receiving a selector signal, and a video interface forreceiving the first video signal and the second video signal; whereinthe transmission device includes a video output, wherein the videooutput includes a first video output signal at a first compression and afirst bandwidth, and a second video output signal at a secondcompression and a second bandwidth, and wherein the transmission devicefurther includes a compositing device for combining the first and secondvideo output signals into a composite signal for display at the userdisplay device; wherein the first video output signal is derived fromthe first video signal, and the first compression and the firstbandwidth is based at least in part on the selector signal; wherein thesecond video output signal is derived from the second video signal, andthe second compression and the second bandwidth is based at least inpart on the selector signal; and wherein the combined first and secondvideo output signals are displayed at the user display device as thecomposite signal without the use of multiple tuners at the user displaydevice.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the selector signal indicatesthat the first video signal is a full screen signal, and wherein theselector signal indicates that the second video signal is a partialscreen signal.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first transmissionbandwidth is greater than the second transmission bandwidth.
 4. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the selector signal indicates a size of thepartial screen signal.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the secondcompression is determined at least in part on the size of the partialscreen signal.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmission devicefurther includes an encoder engine.
 7. The system of claim 1, whereinthe first compression is MPEG-2.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thesecond compression is MPEG-2.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thefirst bandwidth is a high bit rate MPEG-2.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the second bandwidth is a low bit rate MPEG-2.
 11. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the transmission device further includes a resolutionconverter.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the resolution converterreduces the resolution of the second video signal relative to theresolution of the first video signal.
 13. A method for supportingpicture-in-picture, the method comprising: receiving a first videosignal, a second video signal, and a selector signal; decoding theselector signal, wherein the selector signal indicates that the firstvideo signal is a main-screen video signal, and the second video signalis a sub-screen video signal; and based at least in part on the decodedselector signal, formatting the first video signal as a high bit ratevideo signal, and the second video signal as a low bit rate videosignal; and transmitting the high bit rate video signal and the low bitrate video signal over as a composite signal over a transmission mediumcoupled to a NID; and displaying the composite signal at a user displaydevice coupled to the NID.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein theselector signal indicates a display size of the low bit rate videosignal.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein formatting the second videosignal as a bit rate video signal comprises reducing the resolution ofthe second video signal.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein reducingthe resolution comprises reducing the number of lines of displayedvideo.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein formatting the first videosignal as a high bit rate video signal comprises formatting to a formatselected from a group consisting of: a low bit rate MPEG-1 signal, ahigh bit rate MPEG-1 signal, a low bit rate MPEG-2 signal, a high bitrate MPEG-2 signal, a low bit rate MPEG-4 signal, and a high bit rateMPEG-4 signal.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein formatting the secondvideo signal as a low bit rate video signal comprises formatting to alow bit rate MPEG-2 signal.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein atransmission bandwidth of the low bit rate video signal is less thanhalf the transmission bandwidth of the high bit rate video signal.